"We don't have alternatives that are worthwhile really in a lot of respects certainly when you compare it to how easy it is to get in your car and ride," said Commissioner Brian Bigelow.

Pedestrian, biker and public transit user safety will be considered in the planning and design of current and future Lee County roads. Commissioners also placed emphasis on reducing carbon emissions, promoting exercise and healthy lifestyles and ensuring the safety of those who walk or bike along the county roadways.

"We're going to have crashes in this society with so many vehicles, and so many roads and so many people on them," said Commissioner Frank Mann. "I'm just saying, be careful out there."

Many Lee County community members, including a woman who was hit by a car while riding her bike, came to speak before the board to support the resolution.

"She is a victim of what's really wrong with the way that we've been kind of singularly focused on accommodating automobiles in our county," Bigelow said.

"It's been quite literally to the exclusion of other alternative modes of transportation."

In a national study called "Dangerous By Design," prepared by Transportation For America, the Cape Coral and Fort Myers metro area was ranked ninth in the state for being dangerous to pedestrians. The Naples, Marco Island area was ranked 17th with only 12 pedestrian deaths occurring between 2007 and 2008.

Information technology contract with Atos Origin

The commissioners also saved taxpayers more than $9 million over the next five years.

Commissioners unanimously approved the new, less-expensive information technology contract with Atos Origin, a Paris-based company that has held the county's contract for the past five years.

"I think this looks good to me," said Commissioner Frank Mann. "In this day of fast-moving technology, I know that it's getting more efficient and less expensive every year and it does more with the same energy, and that's what I was confident could happen in renewing this contract."

The 21 percent decrease in price of the five-year contract is a result of allowing Atos 30 more seconds to answer the phones, reducing project-specific payments and allowing Atos workers to use county offices instead of renting space.

Atos also made the new contract more appetizing by agreeing to eat some of the costs by cutting its annual profit margin by $183,359.

With this new contract, the county will save roughly $1.81 million each year for the next five years starting Feb. 24, 2010.

Cutting down the old oak

One more cry was heard to save the large Southern Live Oak in front of the Old Lee County Courthouse in downtown Fort Myers.

Commissioner Frank Mann lamented the potential demise of the stately tree, blamed the county's protective measures for the branch falling off and questioned the reasoning behind its death sentence.

"We killed that limb Mr. Chairman by our own protective measures that were not properly executed," Mann said.

Commissioners agreed unanimously to delay the decision of coming up with a demolition date for the tree until next week's meeting, and Mann agreed to meet with the arborist who ran the tests on the tree and determined it was structurally unsound.

Mann said that a steel rod was culprit for the branch falling off earlier recently and that the rest of the tree is perfectly healthy.

Mann said that the county should have implemented the use of structural supporting bands to hold the tree and its limbs in place.

Since 2001 more than $60,000 has been spent treating and bracing the tree.

"If we had put bands around the outside properly instead of drilling a hole, which is guaranteed to make it rot, that limb would still be on there today," Mann said.

Mann disagreed with the previous conclusions that the branch fell because of termites, the tree's age and the overall health of the tree.

"I think it's still a very healthy tree that can be saved," Mann said. "Before we chop it down, I'm just asking, let's be mighty dang sure that's the thing to do."

Reach Sarah Donovan at sdonovan2@gmail.com. A version of this story was printed in the Naples Daily News.